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Topic Name: Human Virus may Prove useful in Attacking the Deadliest form of Brain Tumors

Category: Biomedical

Research persons: James J. Vredenburgh, MD, Weihua Xie, Robert Schmittling, Chris Learn, Allan Friedman, Roger McLendon and John Sampson.

Location: Duke University Medical Center, United States

Details

A common human virus may prove useful in attacking the deadliest form of brain tumors, according to study conducted by researchers at Duke's Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center. The researchers said the finding is an important step in developing a vaccine that can attack the tumors by enlisting the help of the body's immune system. 

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), which infects 50 percent to 90 percent of people at some point during their lives, is active in more than 90 percent of patients diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, the most deadly type of malignant brain tumor, said Duane Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D., a brain cancer researcher and lead investigator on the study. 

"We don't know if the virus plays a part in the growth of the brain tumors or whether the presence of the brain tumors leads to a reactivation of the virus," Mitchell said. "But we do know that the virus has the potential to affect the growth and invasiveness of cancer cells. So if we can target it, we may be able to empower the body's immune system to fight infected tumor cells and destroy the cancer." 

According to the researchers, a vaccine targeting HCMV likely would be administered to patients following conventional chemotherapy. The immune system's recovery from chemotherapy is marked by a regenerative burst of new immune cells, and the vaccine would take advantage of this reaction to effect an even stronger immune response to the virus, Mitchell said. 

The researchers will publish their findings in the February 2008 print issue of the journal Neuro-Oncology. The study was published early online on October 19, 2007. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, The Brain Tumor Society and Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure, a not-for-profit organization that supports research to hasten a cure for brain cancer. 

In healthy people with fully functional immune systems, the initial HCMV infection can be symptom-free or it can be associated with mild flulike symptoms. After infection, the virus becomes dormant and stays that way for the life of the infected person. But in people with weakened immune systems -- such as AIDS patients or those undergoing bone marrow transplant -- HCMV can become reactivated and cause more severe illnesses, such as pneumonia. 

HCMV's association with brain tumors was first demonstrated in 2002 by researchers at the University of Alabama - Birmingham, but their results had not been repeated despite several attempts. 

"We not only confirmed the virus' association with the tumors but also saw that patients with glioblastoma multiforme had detectable virus in their bloodstreams, where the comparative group did not," Mitchell said. "This association may help us assess the success of vaccine treatment, since we will be better able to monitor response in patients, even after their tumors have been removed." 

Based on the results of this study, Duke researchers have developed a vaccine that targets HCMV and are conducting a clinical trial to assess the vaccine's safety and its effectiveness at building immunity to HCMV in patients with brain tumors. In the trial, which will complete enrollment this year, the vaccine is given monthly to cancer patients in conjunction with chemotherapy for as long as their tumors remain stable. 

"We're encouraged by the early results we're seeing in the clinical trial and we're pleased that the initial study enabled us to proceed with testing this vaccine in patients," Mitchell said. "Because HCMV is present in such a large number of glioblastoma multiforme patients, the development of an effective treatment that targets the virus could have significant implications for this deadly disease." 

Other researchers involved in this study were Weihua Xie, Robert Schmittling, Chris Learn, Allan Friedman, Roger McLendon and John Sampson.

About The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center

The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University Medical Center is one of the largest and most successful in the field. It has received the highest rating of "Outstanding" by a National Cancer Institute peer review group's evaluation of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center over the last ten years. Dedicated entirely to the treatment and cure of brain and spinal tumors in children and adults, we combine the resources of a leading research hub with a commitment to the best in patient care.

About Researcher:

James J. Vredenburgh, MD
Medical Director, Adult Clinical Services
Professor of Medicine

Duke University Medical Center
DUMC Box 3624
Durham, NC 27710
Tel: (919) 668-2993
Fax: (919) 684-6674
Email: vrede001@mc.duke.edu

Dr. Vredenburgh is board certified in Medical Oncology and Hematology, and has worked in the Division of Medical Oncology at Duke for 12 years. He joined the Center in January, 2003. His primary focus is patient care, and his clinical research interests focus on primary brain tumors as well as brain metastases. Additional clinical research efforts focus on complications of therapy.

About Funders:

Brain Tumor Society

The Brain Tumor Society is a charitable organization based in Watertown, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1989.
It provides informational resources and supportive services to brain tumor patients and their families, and provides funding for brain tumor research.
Leadership
Mary Catherine Calisto, Chair 
G. Bonnie Feldman, Founder and Honorary Life Member 
Scott L. Pomeroy, MD, PhD, chair, medical advisory board 
David N. Louis, MD, PhD, chair, scientific advisory council 
N. Paul TonThat, Interim Executive Director 

National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical research.

The Institutes are responsible for 28%—about $28 billion—of the total biomedical research funding spent annually in the U.S., with most of the rest coming from industry.[1] The NIH is divided into two parts: the "Extramural" parts of NIH are responsible for the funding of biomedical research outside of NIH, while the "Intramural" parts of NIH conduct research. Intramural research is primarily conducted at the main campus in Bethesda in unincorporated Montgomery County, Maryland, and the surrounding communities. The National Institute of Aging and the National Institute on Drug Abuse are located in Baltimore, Maryland, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences is in Research Triangle, North Carolina. The NIAID maintains Rocky Mountain Labs in Hamilton, Montana,[2] with an emphasis on virology.

The predecessor of the NIH began in 1887 as the Laboratory of Hygiene. It grew and was reorganized in 1930 by the Ransdell Act into the National Institute of Health (singular at the time). Today it is one of the world's foremost medical research centers, and the Federal focal point for medical research in the U.S. The NIH, comprising 27 separate institutes, centers and the Office of the Director, is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The current NIH Director is Elias Zerhouni.

The goal of NIH research is to acquire new knowledge to help prevent, detect, diagnose, and treat disease and disability, from the rarest genetic disorder to the common cold. The NIH mission is to uncover new knowledge that will lead to better health for everyone. NIH works toward that mission by: conducting research in its own laboratories; supporting the research of non-Federal scientists in universities, medical schools, hospitals, and research institutions throughout the country and abroad; helping in the training of research investigators; and fostering communication of medical and health sciences information.

Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure

Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization with the mission to accelerate a cure for brain cancer by increasing the number of potential therapies and moving them rapidly into the clinic for patients. The organization was founded in 2001 by Dan Case, an investment banker, his brother Steve Case, co-founder of America Online, their families, business leaders, scientists, and researchers. After Dan Case was diagnosed with brain cancer, he and the other founders acted on their belief that a collaborative, entrepreneurial model offered the best hope to support the research, development, and implementation of breakthrough therapies.

Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure awards grants to leading brain cancer researchers and partners with the medical, academic, business, and government sectors. Through the Case Foundation and in his role as chairman of Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure, Steve Case remains active in the organization.
Kate Carr joined the organization in January 2006 as president and CEO.